Changing News Archive - September, 2010
Community moves to integrate doctors -- September 15, 2010
Long before the new health reform law passed, Bryan Mills, CEO of Community Health Network, declared the hospital chain would turn itself into an accountable care organization by integrating with physicians.
Now that such an idea is codified in law, it’s only fueling Mills’ mission.
Community Health now has about 550 physicians, either on its payroll or committed through integration contracts, who have some of their pay hinge on measures of quality and communication.
Community had a head start on other local hospital systems because it kept the primary-care physician practices it acquired in the 1990s, when the managed care concept (a forerunner of accountable care) was all the rage. Today, those practices employ 200 physicians.
http://www.ibj.com/community-charges-ahead-with-doc-integration/PARAMS/article/22269
Rural hospitals take unique approach to health care for the poor -- September 15, 2010
Bemidji, Minn. — Even rural hospitals that chose not to enroll in the scaled back GAMC program will lose millions of dollars this year providing charity care for the state's poorest adults. That's because those hospitals are no longer reimbursed.
A growing number of hospitals are taking unusual steps to cut their losses and still provide care for the poorest of the poor.
Tri-County Hospital in Wadena projected it would lose about $850,000 each year providing health care no longer covered by GAMC. This summer, the hospital began an experiment.
Working through Wadena County, the hospital started paying insurance premiums so that about 100 GAMC patients could shift over to the more comprehensive MinnesotaCare insurance program.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/09/15/gamc-rural/
Berwick challenges insurers to help improve healthcare -- September 14, 2010
WASHINGTON – The administrator for the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services urged health plans Monday to join the government and other stakeholders in helping to overhaul the American healthcare system.
In a keynote given at America's Health Insurance Plans' Medicare Conference in Washington, D.C., Donald Berwick said the nation's healthcare problems don't necessarily lie with its doctors or health plans.
"The problem lies with the system," he said, adding that the status quo of fragmented information and care is no longer acceptable.
"I want to make our healthcare system as good as we expect it to be, and I need your help," Berwick told health plan executives. "You have and will continue to have a profound influence."
http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/berwick-challenges-insurers-help-improve-healthcare
HHS awards $16.8 million to train public health workforce -- September 13, 2010
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced the award of $16.8 million to support 27 Public Health Training Centers (PHTC) at schools of public health and other public or non-profit institutions across the country. The PHTC Program helps improve the public health system by enhancing skills of the current and future public health workforce. Institutions accredited to provide graduate or specialized training in public health are eligible for funding. Most of the funding – $15.4 million – is made available by the Prevention and Public Health Fund included as part of the Affordable Care Act.
“Today’s awards represent a dramatic increase in support for Public Health Training Centers,” said Secretary Sebelius. “Investing in prevention and public health is the foundation for improving the health and well-being of all Americans.”
Leading surgeon urges civilian trauma care to follow military's lead -- September 13, 2010
A leading San Diego physician wants the medical and political establishments in the United States to improve trauma care for civilians by adopting a system akin to that developed by the U.S. military to treat battlefield casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan. Trauma continues to be "a disease for which we have a cure," said Dr. A. Brent Eastman.
http://www.latimes.com/health/la-me-trauma-20100913,0,5776085.story
Will iPad transform med school? -- September 13, 2010
The new class of medical students is being weaned away from pencil and paper to digital learning.
Stanford’s medical school joins a small but growing group of educational institutions across the nation experimenting with iPads as a way to lighten the load of textbook-toting students, and to learn how best to teach an extremely tech-savvy generation of students who’ve grown up in a wired world.
U Of L Receives Grant For Palliative Care -- September 8, 2010
The National Institutes of Health has awarded a 1.5 million dollar grant to the University of Louisville for a new oncology program.
The program focuses on palliative care, which combines medicine, nursing, social work and religious education to provide broad care for cancer patients. Students in each discipline will be required to take new courses in palliative medicine so they can better work together to treat patients.
“Palliative medicine includes, but is not limited to, the traditional view of end-of-life care and hospice work. Palliative care starts the day of cancer diagnosis for all patients, focusing on the alleviation of symptoms in the bio, psychosocial, and spiritual realms,” says U of L Chief Medical Officer Mark Pfeifer. ”It meets [patients] at their symptoms, their goals, their worries, their environment, their family. It combines everything, then, from advanced, invasive pharmaceutical procedures, to prayer and music.”
The grant will be paid out over five years as the program is developed.
http://www.wfpl.org/2010/09/08/u-of-l-receives-grant-for-palliative-care/
Joint Commission to launch primary care home option in 2011 -- September 8, 2010
OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL – The Joint Commission will expand the process of accrediting ambulatory healthcare organizations next July to those interested in becoming a primary care home provider.
The primary care home offers patients more access to a primary care provider or team, tracks and coordinates care delivered by other providers and facilities, uses evidence-based treatment protocols and focuses more on patient and family education and self-management. This is designed to to ensure that a patient receives timely and appropriate treatment and help accredited organizations increase patient satisfaction, improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.
http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/joint-commission-launch-primary-care-home-option-2011
Healthcare still hiring: Hospital employment ends summer swoon -- September 7, 2010
WASHINGTON – Employment in the U.S. healthcare sector continued its rise in August, increasing by approximately 28,200 jobs. The healthcare industry has added an average of 20,000 jobs per month this year, about in line with the average monthly job growth in 2009.
According to the latest employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the biggest healthcare job gains continued to be in ambulatory care services, where 16,900 jobs were added in August.
Hospitals also gained jobs, adding 8,600 in August. These numbers are a welcome turnaround after three straight months of job losses in that sector.
The dominant job growth area in ambulatory care is in physician offices, which added 5,300 jobs. Home healthcare services added 2,800 jobs, while outpatient care centers saw an increase of 2,700 jobs.
Hospitals, health centers planning new facilities, expansions -- September 7, 2010
Nearly every sector within health care in the North Bay is undergoing rapid expansion, reflecting a nationwide trend that shows little sign of a respite.
Hospitals are expanding or being rebuilt entirely. Outpatient facilities continue to crop up as a broader patient base is sought by some providers. Physicians groups are racing to recruit more doctors to their ranks to ensure purchasing power while maintaining a competitive advantage. And federally qualified health centers, with a significant increase in federal funding and a clearer role in light of health care reform, are consistently doubling in size in an effort to treat an influx of patients.
WellStar expands Paulding Hospital plans -- September 3, 2010
WellStar Health System is giving Paulding County much more than a new hospital.
WellStar’s board of directors had allocated $100 million to replace the current WellStar Paulding Hospital with a new facility on property at Bill Carruth Parkway and U.S. 278 but now has added $39.5 million more to expand its efforts to serve the community’s needs better.
The revised Paulding Health Park project now will include a second physicians building, more and enhanced specialties and additional state-of-the-art equipment.
“Two things we realized early on was that it would cost more than $100 million and that the original project was not everything it could be,” said Mark Haney, WellStar Paulding Hospital administrator and WellStar senior vice president of real estate and construction. Merely adding physicians and a new hospital “can’t really improve the health of the community,” he said. The board also decided it would be wise “to develop programs around specialty lines.”
Physician Visits Down 7% in July -- September 2, 2010
Total patient visits to physician offices were down 7.3% in July from the July 2009—the fourth consecutive month to post negative growth in physician visits, according to researchers with the North American offices of Deutsche Bank Securities. Overall, primary care visits were down by 5.7% for the month.
July appeared even weaker than June (with a 4.1% decline in visits) and the previous second quarter, with a 4.6% decrease in visits.
http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/PHY-255951/Physician-Visits-Down-7-in-July
Small business employees could get $40B benefit from ACA -- September 2, 2010
Commonwealth Fund President Karen DavisAbout 16.6 million small business employees work in firms that will be eligible for tax credits designed to offset health insurance premium costs, according to the Commonwealth Fund.
The credits, available under the Affordable Care Act, will help small businesses afford and maintain health insurance and are available in taxable years beginning in 2010.
Researchers estimate that by 2013, 3.4 million workers may work in firms that take advantage of the tax credit. The value of the credits is expected to increase in 2014, from up to 35 percent of the employer's premium contribution to up to 50 percent.
MHIP launches federal high-risk health coverage program -- September 2, 2010
State leaders and health care professionals are launching Wednesday a new federal high-risk health care program that will insure those previously denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
The Maryland Health Insurance Plan currently operates a state-funded high-risk pool program and was chosen by the Maryland Health Care Reform Coordinating Council to carry out the federal program.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 allocates $5 billion nationally for the creation of a new high-risk health plan to be administered by either the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or individual states.
MHIP, which will now be called MHIP Federal, received $85 million of those federal funds and began accepting applications for the new insurance plan through the federal pool in August.
http://baltimore.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2010/08/30/daily20.html
Study says ACA will strengthen employer-based health insurance -- September 2, 2010
WASHINGTON – While many are still debating whether the Affordable Care Act will strengthen or break down the employer-based health system, a new study by the Rand Corporation finds the ACA will strengthen it.
The study, published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, was based on a simulation of how the Affordable Care Act will affect the current system. According to Rand, the number of workers offered coverage will increase from 115.1 million (84.6 percent of the approximately 136 million U.S. workers) to 128.7 million (94.6 percent) after the reform.
America's Most Profitable Hospitals -- September 1, 2010
The average American hospital barely breaks even. But some are enormous profit centers. Forbes' first-ever survey of America's most profitable hospitals reveals that some American hospitals make 25 cents or more for every $1 in patient revenue they take in.
The list, done by the American Hospital Directory, is based on operating income figures that hospitals must report to the federal Medicare program each year. It found that 24 hospitals in the country with over 200 beds make an operating margin of 25% or more. That kind of profit margin compares favorably to drug giants like Pfizer ( PFE - news - people ), who are often vilified for charging too much for their drugs. It easily beats the operating profit margin that General Electric ( GE - news - people ) reported last year.
The most profitable hospital in the country, 235-bed Flowers Medical Center in Dothan, Ala., recorded an incredible 53% operating margin. It is part of the big for-profit Community Health Systems ( CYH - news - people ) chain in Brentwood, Tenn. Del Sol Medical Center in El Paso snared second place with an astronomical 45% operating margin. It's part of the big HCA chain, based in Nashville. Neither hospital returned calls asking for comment. After this story came out, Flowers Hospital disputed the figures in an e-mail. It says it overstated its revenue by an astonishing $180 million in its official report to Medicare and that its actual margin is 12%.
